


His Dark Hallowed Eve

by Rhaized



Series: The Madonna and Baby [3]
Category: His Dark Materials (TV), His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass (2007)
Genre: Gen, Halloween, Happy Halloween, I couldn't resist, Lyra dominates the scene, Lyra makes a new friend, Lyra wants to dress up as something ridiculous, Mrs. Coulter is horrified, Mrs. Coulter takes Lyra trick or treating for the fist time, They strike a compromise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:01:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27226978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhaized/pseuds/Rhaized
Summary: While living with Mrs. Coulter, Lyra learns for the first time what Halloween and trick or treating is. Mrs. Coulter promises to take her, but she must first behave herself at a party. Lyra obliges, but not without having some fun of her own.
Relationships: Lyra Belacqua & Marisa Coulter
Series: The Madonna and Baby [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1998481
Comments: 9
Kudos: 39





	His Dark Hallowed Eve

**Author's Note:**

> I simply couldn't resist—I wanted to write a fic where Lyra experiences Halloween for the first time and, in true Lyra fashion, where she is completely ridiculous about it and Mrs. Coulter gets all flustered. I'm not even sure if Halloween would exist in Lyra's world given the Magisterium, but let's pretend it does.
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy, and Happy Halloween!

**His Dark Hallowed Eve**

Lyra had never really celebrated Halloween before moving in with Mrs. Coulter.

“You’ve never gone trick or treating?” Mrs. Coulter asked her, aghast. They were sitting inside at the dining room table eating dinner—grilled chicken and sautéed vegetables. Lyra had been living with the woman for a few weeks now, and she was getting quite used to her cozy new life. She had all the sweets and toys she could ever hope for, and she got to go and visit all sorts of exciting new places like the Royal Arctic Institute and the theatre and the mall. Earlier in the day they’d passed by a store giving out candy to children, and Lyra asked Mrs. Coulter why they were doing that. It was then that Mrs. Coulter realized that Lyra didn’t know what Halloween was.

“No,” Lyra answered, playing around with the cut-up chicken on her plate. Pan yawned lazily in her lap as a tabby polecat. “The Scholars were all too busy, and my uncle was never around.”

“You’re joking,” Mrs. Coulter said, her tone most displeased.

“Honest, Mrs. Coulter. The servants never did it, either. Is it really something other kids do?”

“Why, of course. You’ve never seen anyone else doing it?” Lyra shook her head, starting to feel embarrassed now. “Did you dress up, at least?”

“No.”

“Have a special dinner?”

“Not that I can think of. Unless Shepherd's pie is special? The cook always made that a lot in October.”

“I can’t believe this.” Mrs. Coulter pushed her plate away from her then, eyes narrowed and breathing quickening as she reached down for her daemon and began to smooth down his fur. She seemed really upset, and Lyra started to feel guilty, as it was all because she asked that stupid question and didn’t just let it go.

“I’m sorry,” Lyra offered, not sure of what to say or what to do. “I didn’t know it was a big deal. I shouldn’t have mentioned it.”

“ _ You  _ have nothing to be sorry for, dear,” Mrs. Coulter said sharply.

Lyra simply stared, waiting for whatever was happening to finish so she could go back to her dinner and then pretend this never happened. 

“Well, Lyra,” said Mrs. Coulter dramatically after a few more beats, setting her knife down and sitting up straight. Both Pan and the golden monkey lifted their heads to look over at her. “It is long overdue for you to experience the magic of Halloween. We’re going to do some shopping first thing in the morning to prepare.”

The next morning Mrs. Coulter called a car and took them over to the mall. The front entrance was decorated with thick cobwebs, Lyra just now noticed, along with big, black spiders creeping out from the side of the bushes.

_ Have these always been here?  _ she wondered, noticing for the first time a huge pumpkin sitting in the center of the little sitting area off to the side.

_ Yes, it has,  _ Pan thought back to her, annoyed as he leapt in front of them as a small black cat.  _ What are you doing, that you never notice this stuff? _

It was like a whole new world to Lyra as they entered the building and went around over to the costume department. Loads of children were running around, yanking at clothes on racks and weaving their way around their flustered-looking parents. Now Lyra better understood what it was they were doing, and why it was so exciting, and what she had been missing. She could dress up as anything she wanted for Halloween. She could  _ be  _ anything she wanted to be. When did she ever have that opportunity before? 

“First we'll pick you out a costume,” Mrs. Coulter sang, holding out a pink dress with ruffles and sequins. “How about dressing up as a princess? With some glitter and sparkles?”

Lyra scowled before she could help herself. The sight of that dress with the ruffles absolutely  _ nauseated  _ her. It was the dress of her worst nightmares. It was the thing she'd wear if she were being tortured on her deathbed. Pan laughed at her, hovering above as a golden hawk. He understood her feelings well and gazed down curiously at Mrs. Coulter, whose eyes widened. 

" _ Not  _ this one, then," she said quickly, putting the dress back and shuffling through some more outfits. "What do you think you'd like to be, Lyra?" 

The answer came to her before she could even process it: "An explorer, just like my uncle."

If Lyra were to stop and think about it, an explorer was the one thing she most desperately wanted to be. Ever since she was old enough to remember anything, she'd always wanted to trail after her uncle in the North. She'd look at the beautiful photograms he brought back and marvel at the few trinkets he gave her, like her walrus tusk. It was her dream to go to the North, just as Mrs. Coulter promised to take her once the weather improved. So to spend her first Halloween getting the chance to be an explorer sounded better than anything Lyra could imagine.

"An explorer?" Mrs. Coulter repeated. "You can be  _ anything  _ on Halloween, Lyra. Even things that aren't humanly possible."

"I want to be an explorer," Lyra insisted. "I'll need a big fur coat. My uncle has one that he said was handmade by some people in the North. D'you think they got any here?" 

"Oh, Lyra," Mrs. Coulter said again, walking away from the clothes rack to come over to her. She was oddly stiff and she looked frustrated as she bent down to look at her on eye-level. "I'll be taking you to the North soon enough, so you'll get to wear your furs and your boots. What else can you be? Anything in the world! Just name it." 

"But I already told you, Mrs. Coulter." Lyra looked down at the woman's daemon then, who had let out a low growl. He looked tense as he glared up at her, his beady little eyes hard. 

"And I'm telling you to be more imaginative, Lyra. What happened to the little girl who sat next to me during dinner at Jordan and told me every tale she'd ever made up?" 

It was a challenge now so of  _ course  _ Lyra couldn't refuse. Pan changed into an ermine and climbed onto her shoulder as she ran into the aisles of costumes, turning them every which way to get a good look at them. 

"We  _ have  _ to be creative, Pan," she said to him, briefly looking at a large pair of overalls before tossing them aside. "It has to be the absolute best thing ever."

"What about this?" Mrs. Coulter called over from the other side of the rack, holding up a large red cape. "You could be a superhero like the ones I read to you in that comic."

"That's  _ boring,  _ Mrs. Coulter," Lyra tossed back to her, turning around and diving back into the clothes. She thought she heard a huff of annoyance come from the woman, but she didn't care as she continued her search for the perfect costume. She'd find it, and she'd prove to Mrs. Coulter that she  _ was  _ imaginative and creative and could be the very best at Halloween that anyone ever was. 

It was after about twenty more minutes that Lyra found it. She gasped, gesturing for Pan to come check it out. He leaped into the air and then hovered as a blue jay, gazing carefully at it. 

"This is it," he agreed, his chirp excited.

"Lyra?" Mrs. Coulter called as Lyra took it and suddenly ran toward the changing room. 

"I'll come out and show you!" Lyra yelled back, her voice booming to practically every single person in the vicinity. 

"Absolutely not." When Lyra came out of the room with her costume, however, Mrs. Coulter shook her head fiercely, her blue eyes horrified. "Lyra, take it off at once."

Lyra was wearing nothing other than a swamp creature outfit. It was laden with materials resembling thick, prickly twigs and leaves that snagged all around her. She looked a bit like a haystack, really, except green and brown and with her entire head covered save a couple red lights peeping out.

"But Mrs. Coulter, it's  _ perfect!"  _ Lyra insisted, spreading her arms out and roaring. As if perfectly planned, a little boy who was walking by stopped in his tracks and started wailing. His mother rushed over to him, taking the boy in her arms. She glared sternly at Lyra and then tossed Mrs. Coulter a look of contempt before carting him away. 

"Look what you've done," Mrs. Coulter said hotly, hurrying over to Lyra to yank the hood off. "Take it off and put it away. This is ridiculous." 

"It  _ isn't!"  _ Lyra insisted, snatching the hood back from Mrs. Coulter. The woman tisked and lifted her head at that, her lips twitching into a snarl. Lyra was aware of the golden monkey slowly circling Lyra now, too. 

"You are  _ not  _ going to go dressed for Halloween as a swamp creature, Lyra."

"Why not?" 

"Because it's obscene! You're a young lady, for goodness sake."

"I  _ ain't  _ a lady!" 

"Yes, you are! And I will  _ not  _ have you walking around London like  _ this.  _ No child of m—you just aren't going to."

Mrs. Coulter stopped then, her face still reddened from her anger yet her eyes searching Lyra's for something. All Lyra could do was glare at her with all the hatred and malice she could muster in her entire body. Pan did his part, too, changing into a naked moilerat and bearing his ugly little yellow fangs at the golden monkey. 

"Lyra," Mrs. Coulter began, but Lyra wouldn't let her finish. 

"No, you listen to me, Mrs. Coulter. Please," she added, aware of her already quite possibly having pushed Mrs. Coulter past her breaking point. Her new guardian was very fickle and temperamental, Lyra had learned a few times the hard way. As angry as she was now, she wanted to save any face she could. "This is  _ my  _ first Halloween, right? Shouldn't this be about  _ me  _ and what  _ I  _ want?" 

"Of course," Mrs. Coulter returned, almost looking shocked as she kept glaring down at Lyra. "This is supposed to be a special day for you." 

"Then let me wear this! Please! I guarantee you no other kid is gonna wear this, and I want to be unique! I want to be creative! I want to be the very best!" 

Her begging seemed to work—at least for now. But not without a compromise. 

"You can wear the swamp creature costume," Mrs. Coulter said as they walked out of the store hand-in-hand, "as long as you dress all nice and ladylike at my little party before we go trick or treating."

It was a cruel compromise, in Lyra's opinion. First, Mrs. Coulter was asking Lyra to do something she very much disliked and which physically pained her (it always had). Second, she'd have to be in that dress and at that party  _ far  _ longer than she'd get to be in the swamp creature costume, which didn't add up to an even exchange. 

_ Don't press your luck,  _ Pan cautioned her as she opened her mouth to argue.  _ Do you  _ **_want_ ** _ to get sent back and have to go through all those princess clothes again?  _

"What are you going to dress up as?" Lyra asked instead, her voice sweet as she squeezed Mrs. Coulter's hand and swung it in front of them. 

"Oh, just something I already had in my closet at home," Mrs. Coulter answered, sounding absolutely delighted. "You'll have to help me with it when the time comes, and I can even teach you more about makeup. Wouldn't you like that?" 

_ No,  _ Lyra thought, and Pan chuckled in her ear as Lyra lied and the two continued back down the thinly-crowded street back toward the apartment. 

Halloween was the day after, conveniently on a Saturday. Lyra could barely sleep all night, thinking about her costume sitting safely in Mrs. Coulter's room and all the candy she would get the following day. She thought about the afternoon party, too, and how awful that would be, but she was more excited about trick or treating than she was dreadful of the party. So, it worked out in the end. 

"Ready to get dressed?" Mrs. Coulter asked late in the morning. Her voice was thick with charm and Lyra inwardly groaned as she knew what it meant: the dress, the makeup, the hair. It was time for Mrs. Coulter to sculpt Lyra into her little "pet" for the afternoon, as Pan had kept referring to it. 

_ But only until night,  _ Lyra added, feeling herself start to grin.  _ 'Cause when nightfall comes, the SWAMP CREATURE gets set loose!  _

Lyra let out little screams and roars in her mind as she followed Mrs. Coulter over to the bathroom to prepare her makeup and her hair. She and Pan kept practicing their sound effects in their heads, which made up for the  _ boring  _ smalltalk about skin contour and eyelash curling until they were finally dressed and ready to go for the party. Her dress was a little yellow number with a white silk collar and half-sleeves. It was tight and uncomfortable, but Lyra didn't complain as she helped Mrs. Coulter arrange some flowers and tuck things away in the apartment. She'd power through it in honor of the swamp creature. 

It wasn't as bad as Lyra initially thought. She could admit that. Pan sat regally on her shoulder as a handsome young raven as people started filling into the flat, some with children and some without. After a few minutes Mrs. Coulter came to greet her, and she was taken away with how beautiful the woman looked in her little sailor costume. She wore a knee-length white skirt with a hint of blue borders and a well-fitted saiker shirt that she tied at the waist, although still covering her abdomen. Her hair was done up with a headband, too, tucking away her luscious curls. It was fashionable yet respectable, and it made Lyra pine again for the North and the seaside voyages they'd inevitably have to make.

"Aren't you the absolute cutest," Mrs. Coulter said to her in an uncharacteristically high-pitched voice. She understood why soon enough as some other women came over to them, squealing at Lyra and tapping Mrs. Coulter's shoulder insistently as they shared the latest gossip. A couple of them had children who lingered just away from them, trying to make eye contact with Lyra. She ignored them, though, as they looked boring. 

Telling the adults about her planned Halloween costume proved to be the highlight of the night, given the risks she was daring to take with her tales. 

"What are you going to be for Halloween this year?" was the question almost everyone asked her. When Mrs. Coulter was in ear shot (which was quite often), she'd say a princess or a nurse or something girly and innocent. When Mrs. Coulter _wasn't_ hovering nearby, however, Lyra could get creative or even honest. 

"I'm going to go as a  _ real  _ orphan," she told some stuffy old woman who'd asked her. 

"A real orphan?" the woman repeated. 

"Yes. You know, the ones who are dirty and ugly and all poor, with holes in their clothes and knots in their hair. Mrs. Coulter treats me ever so well, but what if she didn't? I want to see what that could be like." 

"A frog," she said to someone else, a younger man dressed in a too-big suit. 

"Oh," he said, letting out a nervous laugh. "Like a—like one of those frogs in your children's books?" 

"No, the slimy and gross kind," Lyra corrected, smiling wide, "with scales and phlegm. I'm gonna try to go get a couple real frogs to carry round on my shoulder, too. Could be my little frog kids. Part of the act, you see." 

To the children who asked, Lyra let it out: "I'm going to be a SLIME CREATURE! GAHHH!" One of the little girls she was talking to screamed and ran away to go find her mother. Lyra laughed, happy, and another boy laughed with her, too. 

"Andrea is so annoying," he said to her, his daemon in the shape of a lemur as she played with Pan nearby. He was about her age with short brown hair and bright green eyes. He was tall, too, already a head or so taller than her. "I'm glad someone gave her a scare to shut her up."

"You know all these people then?" 

"Most of them, yeah. My dad's in the Magisterium and my mum hangs out with all these people. Who are you, by the way? I've never seen you around before."

"I'm Lyra," she said, holding out her hand to shake his firmly.

"Jimmy," he offered, shaking her hand back smoothly. "Who's your mum, then? It isn't Mrs. Coulter, is it?" 

"Oh, she ain't my mum. I'm just staying with her. But I do live here, yeah."

It wasn't long until Mrs. Coulter herself appeared right next to her, putting her arms around Lyra's shoulders and pressing down tightly. "There you are, Lyra. Can you tell me why Mrs. Dearborn's daughter came crying to her about some girl screaming and being mean to her?" 

"Andrea?" Jimmy interrupted, giving Mrs. Coulter an easy smile. "Oh, you can't trust anything she says, ma'am. I've known her my whole life and she's  _ so  _ dramatic. Lyra didn't do anything. I was here the whole time. Andrea just didn't understand the joke and got upset."

"I see," said Mrs. Coulter, her voice sing-song again but her arm still tight around Lyra's shoulders. Lyra noticed her daemon was still looking at her suspiciously, while Mrs. Coulter's eyes had softened. "Well, I'll leave you to it, but don't forget to go greet the other guests too, Lyra."

"Thanks for that," Lyra said to him, grateful to her new friend. "Hey, what are you doing for trick or treating tonight?" 

They made tentative plans to meet up for trick or treating if they could, and planned to tell their mothers (well,  _ his _ mother and Lyra's…Mrs. Coulter). The guests started dwindling out for the evening as the light slowly started to fade from the sky. Lyra was getting impatient now, edging closer and closer to Mrs. Coulter's room where her costume was hanging in one of her wardrobes. She revolved to simply sit on the floor against the wall, Pan jumping over her legs as a cricket as they waited for Mrs. Coulter to appear. 

"Well now," the woman said what felt like  _ forever  _ later. Lyra scrambled up, her face brightening. 

"Can we go now?" she asked, finding her feet shuffling around. 

"I don't know, Lyra. Do you think you deserve it? Did you behave today?" 

"Yes," she said. 

"Is that right?" 

"Uh-huh."

"Okay," Mrs. Coulter said, amusement twinkling in her eyes. "Then we can get you ready now." 

Mrs. Coulter was less amused as they went into her room to get Lyra dressed up. Mrs. Coulter had changed Lyra into plain underclothes for the costume, so that she'd be able to fit comfortably into it and move her body around. The woman sighed heavily as Lyra put the hood on and then looked over at her, lifting her arms into the air in a creepy pose. 

"I really wish you wouldn't wear this," Mrs. Coulter sighed, shaking her head slightly. 

"A deal is a deal!" Lyra exclaimed giddily. "I did my part and now I get to do this. By the way, can we go trick or treating with my friend Jimmy? He and his mum are going to go by the mall." 

"Jimmy. That boy you were with earlier?" 

"Mhmm."

"Do you like him, Lyra?"

"Yeah, he seems alright, which is why I wanna go trick or treating with him."

Mrs. Coulter sighed again, and Lyra got the impression that she was missing something. But the woman didn't press, and soon they were all packed up and headed out the door, holding hands again as Lyra dragged on the floor a silk, soft pillowcase to lug her candy around. 

"Jimmy!" Lyra called as they reached the mall. She ran toward her new friend, who was dressed as a vampire with white paint on his face, fangs, red blood dribbled on his chin, a black suit, and a long black cape. 

"Oh, isn't she darling," Lyra heard Jimmy's mother say, her voice fake, and Pan looked over at Mrs. Coulter and laughed at the woman's uncomfortable smile. 

"How about a photogram?" Jimmy's mother asked then, holding up a small, portable device. "Smile, you two."

No one could tell if Lyra was actually  _ smiling,  _ however, so she posed in a threatening manner on the side of Jimmy who lifted his fangs and looked like he was about to sink his fangs into her. No one made any cutesy comments about it, as they might if Lyra were a nun and Jimmy were an athletic player, or something else stupid like that. 

"And how about the two of  _ you?"  _ Jimmy's mother asked Mrs. Coulter. She froze, looking from Lyra to Jimmy's mom and back again. 

"Alright," she said after a while, moving stiffly over to Lyra by the great pumpkin. Pan was laughing again as he skated in the air as a scary bat. This was ridiculous and Mrs. Coulter  _ hated  _ it. Lyra felt Mrs. Coulter's discomfort as she came to stand next to her, and Lyra had an idea. 

"I'll take off the hood," she offered, pulling it off her head and looking up at Mrs. Coulter. The woman gazed down at her and her presence seemed to lighten considerably. 

"That's lovely," she said, turning back to the camera and smiling. She put her arm around Lyra's shoulders and pulled her closer to her. "That way I'll be able to see your pretty little face in the photogram."

Lyra smiled, too, and at the last moment put her arms around Mrs. Coulter's waist, side-hugging her. Mrs. Coulter looked delighted, and Lyra thought that should probably pacify her enough to leave Lyra alone for the evening as they went about their trick or treating. 

As expected, Lyra completely dominated the trick or treating scene. All these posh children were dressed up in predictable and boring costumes like the ones she'd seen at the store. Heads turned as Lyra and Jimmy rolled up, Lyra growling at them and Jimmy hissing and their daemons soaring through the air as bats to finish up the act. The children were scared of them, even, stopping to let Lyra and Jimmy pass whenever they charged up to them. 

She was aware of Mrs. Coulter's displeasure every now and again as they'd zoom by on their way to their next destination. And when it was finally over and Lyra's pillowcase was stacked full and she was so tired that she could barely walk, Mrs. Coulter had a car take them back to the flat. 

"Did you have a good time?" Mrs. Coulter asked her. Lyra was leaning against the woman as she struggled to fight away the sleep that raked through her. Pan was lounging lazily on her lap as a cat, his eyes actually closed. 

"Yes," she yawned. "Thank you for taking me."

"Was it everything you wished it could be?" 

"It was!" It really was. Lyra got to be what she wanted to be and show up everyone else. She also had fun hanging around with Jimmy, an unlikely ally in a sea of stuffy rich people's kids. He was the first kid she met in London who she actually liked. He was a bit too mild-mannered himself, but she could break him out of that. He had the potential, as she'd seen at the party and during trick or treating. He wasn't a lost cause yet like so many of the others. 

"I'm glad," Mrs. Coulter said, her voice soft as she moved her hand to gently brush through Lyra's hair. Lyra felt herself growing even more drowsy. "Now that you've had your special Halloween, you know what it's like. And next year, you  _ won't  _ have to dress up as such a horrid creature. We can find you something prettier, something still formidable but not as hideous. We can even start looking during the year, to give you time to find one." 

Lyra simply hummed a response, not really listening to what she was saying. She didn't hear the air of finality in Mrs. Coulter's tone, and at the prospect of  _ next year  _ and of looking at costumes  _ during the year.  _ They'd never really talked about how long Lyra would be staying with her, and had an understanding that Lyra was there to work and help her with her travels. But if Lyra had been listening here, she'd have heard the comfort in Mrs. Coulter's planning and vision, the softness of her insistence that Lyra found something pretty to represent them. 

But Lyra was soundly asleep by then, as she sat in the car with Mrs. Coulter's shoulder as her pillow. Mrs. Coulter continued to stroke her hair and took the sack from Lyra's hands so that the candy didn't spill. Lyra's first Halloween was thus a success, and something she could fondly reflect on for years to come, wherever she would be. 


End file.
